BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION MARCH 8-10, 2019) — Last week, The Wall Street Journal ran a weekend column by Lance Morrow. Morrow used the case of Jessie Smollet to identify something he called “a self-sentimentalizing narrative of persecuted innocence.” He said “Smollet’s story was even dumber than Tawana Brawley’s tale of racially motivated gang rape, and if fell apart much faster. The shoe bomber was more competent.”

That didn’t stop a “Pavlovian” response from political opportunists using Smollet’s story to spout “not the details … but rather the generalized claims of ‘racism’ and ‘homophobia'” — Smollett, if you don’t know, is black and gay.

We’re only talking here about the edge-of-the world far left, not the centrist left of Joe Biden, the Democrats’ only shot at defeating Donald Trump in 2020. Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, for example, quickly embraced Smollett’s cry of “Wolf!” They and others “have discovered how effective it is to sentimentalize the politics of race and sexuality. The very words ‘racist’ and ‘homophobic’ now possess a generalized and imprecise political power that is careless of the truth or falsehood of one particular case or another and may be lobbed against the enemy like artillery shells. The false victim — Mr. Smollett, for example — is attracted by the radiant power of blamelessness.”

———- ooo ———-

This trenchant observation on moral sentimentality — which is, of course, amoral — and how the extreme left excoriates anyone who disagrees, reminds THE PLANET of something troubling in Pittsfield.

Come on down, Drew Herzig.

Herzig chairs the Human Rights Commission, Pittsfield’s most dysfunctional agency, a top-heavy, tottering, reverse monument to hatred, gender bias, and racism. He arrived in the city with his husband via Sacramento, Calif., and Astoria, Ore., where he quit his term on the city council. Herzig landed in Pittsfield to practice his out-of-touch brand of budinsky “activism.”

Want to know what a walking hyperbola looks like? He told striking BMC nurses that they were part of “the greatest resistance movement this country has ever seen.” Apparently, he doesn’t know of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and hasn’t heard of Malcolm X, King, or Rosa Parks.

Herzig shows up like mold. He piloted the mayor’s Citizen’s Academy, has both thumbs stuck up something called Indivisible Pittsfield, and lurks under the rocks of every radical leftist activity in the city. He’s on record as being against the state’s Open Meeting policy, objecting when he found that he couldn’t conduct HRC meetings in secret, you know, like Uncle Joe Stalin’s secret tribunals.

Under Herzig’s rickety chair, the HRC has dissolved into a swampy mess requiring fanatic adherence to an rigid, ideological set of unwritten rules. The group has gone from dysfunction to dismemberment, from confusion to chaos, from sham to shambles. Two more members have resigned, and if prospects for the two vacancies don’t worship at the politically correct altar of LGBTQIA, they needn’t bother, for those seem to be the only letters in Herzig’s truncated alphabet.

———- ooo ———-

The latest Herzig blunder came when he introduced a petition calling on Pittsfield to condemn “white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-Semitism.” The city is drowning in debt. It’s taxing homeowners and businesses out of existence. Drugs, crime, and violence have spun out of control. Schools are broken. These and countless other problems weight down daily life for ordinary, honest, hard-working people, but Herzig evidently doesn’t care about Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski.

Fortunately, the committee’s most influential member fought back. THE PLANET‘s Right Honorable Good Friend Peter Marchetti objected to the petition, calling it a crusade meant to demonize entire groups of innocent people. Heated as it was in public, sources say the two men have continued battling outside the ring, leaving the HRC so confused it can’t even agree on times and dates for meetings. This is not Marchetti’s fault, who showed guts in calling out Herzig. It’s on Herzig, who, carrying on his petulant fight elsewhere, blasted the City Council “for not supporting human rights” via the School Committee’s incredibly stupid policy change on Columbus Day.

In Pittsfield, there’s no more Columbus Day. There’s Indigenous People’s Day. This culturally deaf move branded the city’s entire Italian population as entitled, patriarchal, white European racists. The mayor and the city wants to talk “cultural competency?” Then how about condemning Herzig for throwing a bucket of steaming shit over the city’s Italian-American community?

Herzig creates “victims.” He sidesteps issues. He deals in a political brand of moral sentimentality that, ironically, locks its adherents into victimhood. Citizens can’t afford to keep a person like this in political circulation. He represents a type of low-hanging political fruit that calls to mind Eve’s apple.

We all know how that turned out.

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“You’re only a victim if you believe you’re a victim” — Sir Tiberius Fruitjuice.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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77 Responses to “THERE’S A POISON THAT’S SEEPED INTO THE CITY’s BLOODSTREAM: ‘MORAL SENTIMENTALITY’ OF HRC CHAIRMAN EXPLODES INTO FIGHT WITH MARCHETTI”

What is real? Is it (a) a snowball freezing in Hell, (b) Santa Claus, (c) the Easter Bunny, (d) a living wage job in Pittsfield, (e) a private business at PEDA, (f) Jimmy Ruberto’s rolodex, (g) an honest and ethical politician, (h) GE’s accounting practices, (i) life on Mars, (j) life after death, (k) Linda Tyer’s dynamic and vibrant Pittsfield, (l) 10 dimensions and string theory, (m) the U.S. national debt ever being paid off, (n) peace in the Middle East, (o) time travel, (p) Good Old Boy Peter Marchetti’s banal brand of Pittsfield politics, (q) GE’s fraudulent Consent Decree and a cancer free Pittsfield, (r) a safe downtown Pittsfield full of profitable small businesses, (s) Superman, (t) Trump’s tax returns, (u) Pigs having wings that fly around Unicorns, (v) the center of the Universe, (w) space and time, (x) a woman U.S. President, (y) the American Dream, or (z) Dan Valenti ever changing anything in Pittsfield politics?

Herzig is the perfect “activist” politician for Pittsfield. He fits in perfectly with all the other crazy activist politicians in the city like Tricia Bouvier whose biggest concern is promoting the far left agenda not that the roads are falling apart as the quality of life in the city continues to deteriorate.

White and Christian people are on a “list” in this country just like Ocasio Cortez has put moderate Dems on a “list” if they do not measure up to supporting the far left agenda. The support of infanticide says so much about the real lack of respect the Democrats have for human rights since only 3 Democrats voted against infanticide.

A white straight male doesn’t stand a chance beating Tyer in this day and age, especially one over 50. Glad to hear Marchetti is finally growing a pair. Even Jesus couldn’t beat Tyer now. Country’s nuts, city’s even nuttier. Why do these whackkos come here. Free windows, roofs and siding anyone? Wonder how fair that handout process will be?

I think Tyer is very beatable. Her page of accomplishments has very little on it. As Dan said – drugs, crime and violence are out of control, the schools are failing, and the city is mired in debt.

The no- interest loan giveaways should be voted down by the CC since she wants to use the GE Economic Development Fund monies as her checking account. Lower property taxes and reduce spending …..then perhaps homeowners would be in a better position to make home repairs on their own dime.

She’s only beatable if her opponent has the $$, and any viable opponent will just be another progressive.
There’s no money and no support from the unions for anyone who even mentions fiscal responsibility, or has any conservative leanings no matter how small they may be.
We are a one party city – that is not a democracy. It’s a perpetual fascist dictatorship.

GDP is at 2% and we need 5%GDP to keep from going into a very deep deficit. Trump economy made people rich when they gave 2 TRILLION to those that did not need it.Bankrupting America one billionaire at a time.Socialism for the rich has always been Ok in America. Trump and Republicans love socialism for them as they dont want to share.

like Omar, Herzig is insulated from criticism b/c such criticism is “justified” as long as it comes from the perceived victims themselves…no one can beat Tyer nor should anyone run against her and risk being tarred and feathered by her creepy goon squad in the form of Clairmont, Krol, Ward, Guyer, and that strange little park guy who’s name escapes me…plus she’s doing a fine job – Pittsfield is a turd you just can’t shine up….

Mazzeo is part of the Bianchi camp. Remind me again of any accomplishments Bianchi had as mayor?
Replacing Tyer with another progressive won’t change anything.
Our only hope is an independent or moderate Republican becoming mayor. But there is zero chance of that happening. Zero. We do not have democracy here in Pittsfield – special interests like unions and rich developers control it all – we have an oligarchy.

I absolutely agree with Spider! Tyer can and will be beat. I can only hope Melissa Mazzeo runs against her. She, Chris Connell and Kevin Morandi are our only hope for a better Pittsfield….providing there is anything left by election time.

Net worth of America middle class fell 3.7 Trillion in last quarter of 2018.We are not getting richer,we are poorer,we are not great we are below average of what we were 2 years ago.Regressive socialism for the rich has never worked.

Most of the lost revenue was in a big way part of the feds raising the interest rate again. There was no need to raise them again as inflation was under control.Yellen raised the interest rates exactly how many times under Obama?

A very astute column here, Dan. The same “sentimentality in the cause of justice” was enlisted by the progressives running the Harrington campaign.It was so easy, just be a liar, say we are locking up addicts, ignite racial strife and the lib voters over false narratives that police are arresting black citizens. Duped voters swallowed it whole. The DA’s office is full of cronies, plea bargains and reduced sentences galore. Murder cases tried by outsiders because she fired all the lawyers who disagree with her politics and can’t hire anyone to replace them. We have a DA with no qualifications who politicized local justice.Can we afford to keep her in circulation?

Not sure exposing the previous offices failure to prosecute their political donors is “ dirty politics “ it’s a disgrace, that rightfully cost them the election. 47 young female victims didn’t
Fabricate being assaulted, years before an election to assist ms Harrington, nobody is that clever.

Ms Harrington seems naive in believing those who previously covered up these crimes will investigate them now.
Or the crimes are being facilitated at the state level& she is now going with the flow. Dcf vehiclular homicide recently seems strange also.

Google Whyyourchildrenwereharmed.com to further expose a predictable pattern of criminal behavior, facilitated by the commonwealth, much like baker and capeless attempting to subvert a free election. Romney was no better.

That ms Harrington exposed that also, seems to show a willingness to at least confront the problem.
She needs federal assistance to clean up the mess she inherited, Karen Bell seems a logical choice for that work.

This mess stretches all the way back to 81,when Now judge Daniel Ford let Lenox seven kill two young men.
Without spending any?time in jail due to a technicality ford engineered into his prosecution. Simmons rediculous speech about “ there will be accountability “ was the joke for years in the Berkshires , where good athletes & politically connected routinely still get preferential treatment.
Much of what goes on in judiciary is political theater, to appease the locals.

Ms Harrington is in a position to become a National political powerhouse, if she has the courage to continue the corse she started. She is lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
Now she just has to do the dirty work, or the next district attorney will. Residents are tired of two teirs of Justice, it should be one size fits all.

Mazzeo is as far left of a Progressive as you can get. It will be a different name with the same political nonsense agenda if she becomes mayor. Pittsfield needs a different political agenda……I would take an independent at this point.

Lets hope Melissa runs and lets hope we get people to run for city council.. We need to replace Tyer’s puppets if we are ever going to pull this city out of the mess Tyer has put us in. If the puppets are not replaced we will have everything a new Mayor tries to do as Clairmont did with Bianchi. Waiting for Karma to bite Clairmont, Tyer and the rest of the snakes in the butt. As they say, “What goes around comes around.” I hope to see it happen

When the economy goes into a down turn what will happen with the Pittsfield budget?It will raise realestate taxes by another 50% and we are that close to bankruptcy. Mrs Behnke will explain that we need to fully tax people of poverty to pay her 125k salary.She is a hired drunken sailor

Maybe they shouldn’t create bs positions like “cultural competency coach” or “VP of teaching and learning”. That probably $150k that could hire numerous support staff.

The local teachers unions are nothing but political hacks an cogs for democrats. They get raises yearly, budget increases, etc. yet never have enough money. Yet, look most either love like queens or are broke from bad financial decisions. Trust me, most districts don’t whine this much. I know first hand.

Brendan Sheran is a hack and nothing else. TFB found another reason to tax the shit out of you

Relayed from a first hand source (paraphrased): Drew Herzig has states that Pittsfield can become a microcosm of San Francisco but more”tolerant”.
Obviously he never met Billy Mickle, Frank Carlon,Pinky Danforth, et al on “their” North Street beats,. Now they were tolerant…not.

Taxes more than quadrupled under Ruberto and make work projects began their money sucking take down of the blue collar worker in Pittsfield. This set a precedent not likely to end until the citizens revolt on the steps of city hall.

IIhan Omar puts down this country on a regular basis and yet was elected to public office. She was born in Somalia where only a 1/4 of the women between the ages of 15 and 24 are able to read and women are basically treated horribly. I would say that when IIhan was rescued from a refugee camp in Kenya by the United States in 1995, that was a very lucky break for her.

Now she is making anti-Semitic remarks about Israel, calling out Obama as “a pretty face who got away with murder” and making confusing remarks about Sharia Law. What is this woman all about?!?

Maybe Donald will freeze a whole bunch of his sperm that can be mated with porn stars and make a whole new generation of political Trumps. He should shoot out enough for 50 governors and 50 senators to start with.
How else is America ever going to get right with regular people messing it all up? MAGA

Great article thanks! I also hear her tweet is gone now. No doubt she has crossed the line in speaking of Obama like she did. She said, that Politico misconstrued her words so she released a copy of the interview she tapped, which she claimed she always does and it proved the interview to be exactly as she stated to them about what she said about Obama.

How did she become an American? A thankless twit that should keep her mouth shut. She should be expuled for disloyalty to America, but she won’t be. The gutless democrats wouldn’t even sanction her, and in fact let her help draft the watered down useless resolution. She ought to get her big butt back to where she came from.

The powerful saw it coming, JFK,MLK,ELF would show to be to powerful to overcome.Make people fear unions,lawyers,and public education.Use the ignorance of education to establish FEAR brainwash ideas as scary unknowns,….The powerful right corporations and Filthy rich know what they are doing.They control the fear media.

Please support the campaign of the lovely Linda Tyer for re-election for Mayor of Pittsfield in 2019! Mayor Linda Tyer is the best Mayor of Pittsfield EVER! I am rooting for her, and I hope she wins a second term!

Mr. Melle, how many of my federal tax dollars that support you layabouts, are you sending her campaign? Stop being a victim. Get a job, get a life and become a victor instead. Then we shall see how many hard earned dollars you send.

How many of my tax dollars that support you layabouts are you going to giver her campaign? Get a job, support yourself. Be a victor instead of a victim in life. Then you can give her all your hard earned money that is left after you actually pay for your food, housing, utilities, transportation, and taxes and fees. Let me know how much you have left to give to a politician who wants to take even more you liberal lefty.

Mayor Tyer knows how to spend out of my checkbook,so does Marchetti and hes a banker?We need discipline, consolidation and a heart for elderly home owners.The school buildings foot print is to massive for 5600 students.Schools are are money pit with Behnke and husband pulling 200k out of the department.A smaller footprint means less more quality education under one roof.Crosby is a money pit,PHS is a money pit. McCandless is a spender,give him 10 extra million and he will just spend it on new sofware,he makes 160k.They just don’t feel the pain always throwing guilt at people who they say dont support them.Pittsfield has more than any city in the state supported education and these people pull out charts to say we do not a slap in the face to struggling cash strapped home owners.Somebody has to controll these people.They have no plan,they need to announce a plan for future Pittsfield.

Another vibrant and dynamic day in the City of Pits. According to scanner, shots fired from Canal Street, along Wahconah Street all the way up to Pontoosuc lake area this beautiful sunny afternoon. According to the Eagle, PPD states that the public should not be concerned. Come on, I believe most taxpayers are very concerned about the state of our city, just our Mayor and City Councilors would rather discuss plastic bags, free money give a ways and cultural classes instead of facing the actual issues of the city.

The poison pill that Pittsfield has to worry about is the increasing water and sewer rates that will be funding a tecnology that’s oudated before it’s built. This is serious people. You are about to be fleeced big time. Let’s have some discussion.

Perhaps we should start with a deep dive into the history of consultants, their fees and associated kickbacks. Cronyism and nepotism often have a heavy hand in public works projects in the New York city area but that could never happen in a bucolic little town like Pittsfield. Nevertheless, those words migrate into my mind when I look at how politics has cannibalized Pittsfield over the years.

For those of you who care – two important issues on the March 12th CC meeting agenda;

1) authorization for the mayor to use the GE Economic Fund as her checkbook to give away $250,000 to homeowners making under $80,000 to fix up the outside of their homes in order to increase property appraisals and therefore raise property taxes. The paperwork estimates that these funds would be distributed over 3-5 years, but a recent article in iBerkshires quotes Ruffer mentioning the high demand and that the funds may only cover 1 to 1 1/2 years of the program. So yes folks, sounds like the GE Fund would be continually tapped and drained.

2) Single-use plastic bag ban. Why is this even being discussed, as Pittsfield incinerates its trash? Retail has been in a downward spiral for years, but the city wants to dictate what kind of bags they give away and even dictate what they should charge for bags. People currently have freedom of choice while shopping – many retail outlets offer customers a choice of plastic, paper, or reuseable bags. I don’t shop in Lenox because I don’t like the government limiting my right to choose. If it’s raining and I need plastic bags to protect my purchase – I’m sure not going to shop in Lenox where they are banned!
Back off councilors!

Dan: your description of the individual who heads this ridiculous commission epitomizes the Berkshires professional protestor type that feeds off of the notion of victimization, throws all their weight into issues that are tangential and more often than not are mere distractions from all that plagues cities such as Pittsfield which is mired in crime, debt and depression. These professional protestor types who embrace Bernie and leftist ideology will continue to define this area scaring off any legitimate business initiative that would lift the city out of its dystopian state.